richter



(No Model.) 2 Sheets8heet 1.

G. H. RICHTER.

DEVICE FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY LOCKING AND UNLOGKING A NUMBER OF PAPER FILES ARRANGED WITHIN A GABINET.

- Patented July Z0, 1886.

'(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 2'. G. H. RICHTER. DEVICE FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY LOGKING AND UNLOGKING A NUMBER OF PAPER FILES ARRANGED WITHIN A CABINET. No. 345,861.

Patented July 20, 188 6.

[21 V8? (for.

N. PETERS. PholoLiKMgmpher, Wnhinghn. D. C-

. UNITED STATES,

PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE H. RICHTER, OF TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA.

DEVICE FOR SIMULTANEOUSLY LOCKING AND iJNLOCKING A NUMBER OF PAPER-FILES ARRANGED WITHIN A CABINET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 345,861, dated July 20, 1886.

Application filed December 12. 1885. Serial No. 185,503. (No model.)

1'0 aZZ whom it may concern..-

Be it known that I, GEORGE HENRY R1011- TER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Toronto, in the county of York, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, have invented an Improved Device for Simultaneously Locking or Unlocking a Number of Paper'Files .Arranged Within a Cabinet, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to an improved device for simultaneously locking or unlocking all the paper-files within a single cabinet; and it consists, essentially, of abar arranged behind each row of files within the cabinet, and having hooks attached to it designed to fit into a hole made in each file, all the bars so provided being connected together by a cross-bar actuated by a spring designed to hold the hooks away from the files, ex

cept when acted upon by a spindle having a crank on its inner end to connect with a crank pivoted on the cross-bar or one of the hook-bars, the said spindle extending to the front surface oi the cabinet, where it is provided with a handle and lock, arranged substantially as hereinafter more particularly explained.

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a file-cabinet, showing a portion broken away to exhibit my improved locking device. Fig. 2 is a perspective detail of the bars and spindle constituting my improved locking device. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail showing the disk. Figs. 4 and 5 are alternative forms for locking the files.

A represents an ordinary file cabinet containing the paper-files B.

Upon the inside of the back of the cabinet A, and behind each row of files B, I place a bar, 0, secured to the back of the cabinet by screws D, which pass through slots in the bar 0, so that while holding the said bar against the back of the cabinet A they permit a free vertical movement of the said bar.

At each file B, I attach to the barO a hook, E, designed to fit into a hole, F, made in each file B, as indicated.

G is a cross-bar arranged to connect to gether all the bars 0. A spring, H, is placed below the bar G, so that it and all the bars 0 connected to it are held up by the action of the said spring H, to keep the hooks E out of the holes F.

I is a spindle, suitably journaled in the cabinet A, and having formed or attached to its inner end a crank, J, which connects with the crank K, pivoted upon one of the bars 0, as indicated, or, if preferred, this crank might be pivoted upon the cross-bar G. A handle, L, is formed on the outside end of the spindle I, so that the said spindle may readily be turned from the outside of the cabinet, inorder to draw the bar 0 down, and thus force the hooks E into their respective holes F, made in the files B, as before described. i

M is a lock, preferably provided with a spring-bolt, N, so that when the notch O in the disk P, which is attached to the spindle I, is brought next to the spring-boltN, the said spring-bolt is forced by the action of its spring into the said notch, thereby locking the files, as the notch O is at such a position in the disk P that" when it is brought into connection with the spring-bolt N, all the hooks E are held down into their respective holes.

In order to unlock the files it is merely necessary to draw the bolt N back by its key, when, by the action of the spring H, all the hooks E are forced up out of their places, and the files are thus released.

Instead of making a'hole F in the file B, a lug or projectiomf, such as is shown in Fig. 4, might be substituted, or the same effect might also be secured by forming a pin on the fi and a projection on the bar 0 with a hole in it to slip over the pin, as shown in Fig. 5. I therefore consider all of these as equivalents for one another.'

Vhat I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination, with the spindle I and notched disk P, carried thereby, of a lock, M, having a springactuated bolt, N, designed to engage the notch in the disk P when said notch and spring-bolt are coincident, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

2. A series of bars, 0, set within a cabinet,

A. behind each row of files B, and provided with a hook, E, for each respective files, a cross bar, G for eonnectin the bars 0 cranks J and K, for connecting the said bars RICHTER 5 to the spindle I, in combination with a spring, H, and a lock, M, the latter having a bolt, N, designed to spring into the notch 0, formed in the disk P, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

In presence of J. BISHOP, WV. GREENE. 

